by In what should not surprise anyone, voting participation in the NRA Board of Directors election has dropped by almost half since 2019. That year the percentage of members voting was 5.95% which is not that great in and of itself. In 2024, it was 3.16%. Over that same time period membership in the NRA has dropped by almost two million members.
We have 27 days left in which to reverse this trend and to elect the NRA 2.0 slate of candidates. Ballots must be received by April 6th. Given that April 6th is a Sunday, I’m am thinking a day or so earlier is the absolute cut-off for your ballot to be received.
Given everything that has been revealed since the 2019 Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, it is no wonder that members have left and voting has dropped off. This year is our chance to reverse the voting trend, clean house, and give the NRA a chance to regain its strength. By cleaning house, I mean defeating those who stood by while Wayne and company were merrily grifting away. The old guard, the Friends of Wayne, the cabal, or whatever you want to call them have stood in the way of change and are trying to get elected on the basis of old, sometimes very old, accomplishments. Their time is past.
Now it is time to elect those who stand for accountability, integrity, and, most of all, transparency.
Thanks to the Falls Township Rifle and Pistol Association for creating the NRA Voting Facts series.
PRIVLEDGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
Memorandum to: Board of Directors, NRA
From: Bob Barr, President NRA
Subject: Membership Trend
Date: March 7, 2025
________________________________________________________________
In my previous communication in February, I expressed my concern about the ongoing decline in NRA membership. It’s vitally important that all of us as leaders remain fully aware of this situation and why I am and will continue providing you with an accurate picture of the current membership numbers.
Unfortunately, membership continues to decline, even with the departure of Wayne LaPierre and The Brewer Law Firm. In fact, we lost 286,215 members — that’s ~14 % of all non-life members in 2024 alone. The membership continues to decline in 2025.
To break this down further, we saw a loss of 16,039 members in January 2025, followed by a decrease of 22,904 members in February.
This rate of loss is unsustainable! We must take action to reverse it. I’ve attached a graph for your review.
On a positive note, I want to commend Rocky Marshall for launching a board-led campaign aimed at increasing life memberships. I encourage each of you to take inspiration from his initiative and do your part in recruiting new members, both regular and life members, as we continue to strengthen the NRA’s foundation.
As directors, we all share a common goal: to advance the mission and cause of the NRA. Divisive labels such as “Reformers” or “Cabal” serve only to hinder our collective progress. It is critical that we put an end to infighting and refocus on what unites us. We are all directors of the NRA, and our shared mission remains the same—to advocate for the rights and interests of our members and promote the positive impact the NRA has on our nation.
PRIVLEDGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
We must present a united front, actively promoting the vital work the NRA is doing for our members and for the country as a whole. Together, as a cohesive board, we can move forward and begin to rebuild membership and restore the NRA to its rightful strength.
With your continued support, I am confident that we can turn this trend around and ensure the NRA’s future success.
Thank you for your dedication and commitment to this cause.
I have confirmed the authenticity of this memo. However, I don’t know Jim Glover nor how he obtained it. I would note that I was not sent this by any member of the Board of Directors.
That said, I consider it in the public domain now.
I would say characterizing “reformers” as a divisive label is a hoot. I will give Barr “cabal” as being possibly divisive.
The damage done by Wayne LaPierre and his supporters to the NRA is almost incalculable. There are annual members who will never return and the NRA no longer appeals to many of the under-40 age group.
“…and the NRA no longer appeals to many of the under-40 age group.”
Try the under 50 crowd. Us Millennials are getting old now and are in our mid-40s.
Every group from NRA to gun clubs is going to have issues and NRA shooting itself in the foot with reputation is only going to make recovery harder. And you may be wrong by what I mean with issues and what I mean by actions of shooting itself in the foot…
What I mean by issues is that you have consider Gen Z are adults now. Like fully grown adults. Gen Z and younger Millennials were raised by Gen Xers. Gen X is known as a generation that didn’t join things in much larger numbers. That means community groups and civic organizations. Even when they do join, they tend to treat them more like corporate exchanges than social spaces that need their contributions (time/energy more than financial). The kids they raised are the same way.
Even among younger Millennials, I was seeing issues in my alum groups of ladies not knowing where to turn to make friends as an adult because the only stuff they know is very structured (work) or transactional (gyms or other commercial memberships). They don’t have spaces where they can meet people – or rather, those spaces exist, but they don’t join them. I joke about our club’s recruitment of junior members is about creating a pool of dates for kids and young people we know among others who share their values on guns, but it’s not 100% a joke. I do mean it about giving them a space to learn more about community engagement and non-commercial social spaces they can seek out on their own later if they leave the area.
Gun clubs, NRA, and all of those groups are going to have a much harder time figuring out how to build membership roles with huger numbers in multiple generations who don’t value these things as anything more than buying a coffee.
What I mean by NRA shooting itself in the foot isn’t limited to the corruption and bankrupting itself. Before this mess was exposed, Wayne doubled down on marketing aimed at Boomers and the image of NRA as meant only for country/rural living fans.
The silence about major cases of police shooting gun owners and “back the blue no matter what, even in bad shoots” attitudes destroyed their potential relationships with younger people. Wayne locked the NRA’s reputation in as a group only for middle aged to old white men, not for anyone who cares about the future of what gun ownership looks like – less white and less male. The corruption stuff to follow just solidified to those under 50 gun folks who could have been primed to join a cause that they shouldn’t associate with that version of the cause.